The results are in.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is bad for women. It should only be used for short periods, or when bone loss is a real fear. (The picture of actress-model Lauren Hutton is from Blunt Graphics, which had her speak at an event on behalf of Indonesian orangutans.)

How did we get it wrong? People compared women who did take the therapy with those who didn't, and didn't adjust for the fact that those on HRT were generally healthy and taking care of themselves, when many who weren't, didn't.

Think back to the pro-HRT commercials of a few years ago, starring Lauren Hutton (pictured) and Patti LaBelle. Both subjects were well-off, physically fit, busy -- the whole idea of the commercial, to other women, was you want to be like them.

Well, you can be like them. Exercise, diet, stay busy, treat yourself right. You won't be like them just taking a pill.

But there's more to consider here.

For one thing the drug companies wanted the good news about HRT to be true. Wyeth Labs insists its commercials advertised HRT only for bone loss and menopausal symptoms, but I saw the ads. Wyeth is, at best, being disingenuous. The ads didn't say take it for a little while (although they did mention bone loss). They said, I got "the facts," I started taking it, and I've never been happier or healthier.

But there's another reason. Women wanted it to be true, too. Menopause can be a tough deal, both physically and psychologically. Aging and the approach of death are tough deals for all of us. The idea of taking a pill and having it easier is appealing.

But science can't let business ambition or desire get in its way. At least, it's not supposed to. And, finally, real double-blind studies were done, through the National Institutes of Health and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. (I had this card, of Hutchinson managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1964, when I was a kid.) Those studies were done scientifically, and their results deserve respect.

More important, I think the fact they were done at all deserves respect. Science doesn't always come up with answers we like, or answers that are profitable. We don't just "invest" in science to get rich or to stay young.

We do science to learn the truth of things. And sometimes that truth isn't pleasant. Remember that.